Fertilizer-distributer.



1101841323. l PATBNTBD 111111.19, 1907.

s.. KynENNIs @L 1". W. RICE.

PERTILIZER DISTRIBUTER.

11PPL10ATI0N FILED 001.12. 1906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 847,323. y PATENTED MAR. 19, 1907.

S. K; DENNIS & F. W. RICE.

PERTILIZEP. DISTRIBUTER.

APPLIOATION FILED 0OT.12. 1906.'

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Js. K. DENNIS I I. W. RICE.

FBRTILIZ-ER DISTR'IBUTER. APPLIoMmN FILED 0012.12, 1906.l

4 SHEETS-.SHEET 4.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL vK. DENNIS ANDVFRANK w. RICE, OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN- i ORS To INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, A CORPORATION or `NEW JERSEY;

FEnTlLlzE'R-DISTRIBUTER.

No.A 847,323.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Fatented March 19', 1907.

Application filedctober 12, 1906.. Serial No. 338,548.

To all-whom it may/ concern- Be It known that we,;SAMUEL K. DENNIS and FRANK'W. vRICE, citizens of the-United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and' useful Improvement in Fertilizer- `lizer-distributersI, and-more particularly to nthe automatic stop o erating in connection with ,the forward an returninovement of the movable apron, the construction and arrangement'of the apron and cylinder-drive, with. the ymeans for controlling same, the means for'returning the movable apron, and other structural details, the object being to improve the general construction and ope-ration of the machine.

` Referrmg to the accompanying drawings,

Ation of the apron-drive and the Ineans for Figure. 1 represents aVV plan view of the rear end of a fertilizer-'distributer embodying our improvements( Fig. 2`is aside elevation of the` same witha portion of its body cut away. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the construccontrolling -same, Fie. 3' showing the driving.- gears in mesh, and 4ig. 4 the same when disengaged.' Fig. 5 vrepresents aside elevation of the trip-lever rock-shaft, the. trip-levers thereon, and the lugs'on the apron for actu'- ating same.` Fig. isa fragmentary lelevation of.the'lefthan side of the machine, de-

signed to show the construction and arrange,- ment of the means'for returning'the apron to its. forward position, f Fig. 7 represents. a longitudinal 'section' taken throu h the rear vend ofthe apron and thejapron-s aft'and is designed' to lshowthe construction of the -chain-links, and-rollers thereon. Fi :8 is a detail view of the sprocket-wheel s Iown in Fig. 7. F" 9 represents a longitudinal section throug vthe. left-hand end of the apronshaft and driving-pinion adjacent thereto,

taken as indicated y the line 9 9 in Fig. Fig. 10 is fragmentary section designed to show the construction of the casting which supports the free-end of the vibratory wormshaft. Fig.11shows the pawl-arms in engagement with the toothed eccentric-link. Fig. 11 is a .longitudinal section through the partsshown in the preceding figure, as indicated bythe line 11a 11a thereon. Figs. v12

and 13 are detail views showing an inside and frontV elevation, respectively, of Oneofthe pawl-arms. Fig. 14 is designed to illustrate the manner in which A movement is imparted to the pawl-arms by the toothed-eccentric- .link when the latter is crossing its dead-center; and Fig 15 is a detail showin in side elevation the cai -lever for contro ling the effective movement of the pawls and the gearse ment for controlling same.

n the drawings the body of the distribu-v ter is designated by'l, the movable apron by-2, and the chain which connects the ends of said apron by 3. The a ron is mounted on the slides 4, (see Fig. 7 w `ch are secured tothe inner side of the body and near the bottom vthereof and is driven by the sprocket-wheels 5, which are fixed to the ends of vthe apron-drivingl shaft 6. The apron 2 consists of a series of wooden stri s 2', which are connectedl by means of t e special links 7, these special links being provided with the ,inwardly-projecting lugs 7', between which are journaled the an'tifriotionrollers'72. To lessen'the transverse strain on the links, the lugs are made to project,

rollers 72 are engaged by the sprocketwheels 5- and constitute the bearing-points between the apron-chain and the driving sprocket-wheels.

At the rear end of the body 1 is mounted the toothed distributin -cylinder 8 on the shaft 9. To each end o the shaft 9 is iixed a sprocket-wheel 10, which is engaged by the driving-.chains 11. These driving-chains extend forwardly above the sprocket-wheels 12,`which are flxed'to the rear su portingwheels'13. The forward ends of t ese cy inder driving-chair'is are arranged to be lowered 'and raised into and out of engagementwiththe driving-sprockets 12 by means-,of

ass. iin th'eboxor body 1 at points '14 substantially above the center of the sprocketwheel 12, and on each of these pivotal axes is also mounted.. a second idler-wheel 16,

11. The lower run of the said' chain engages the sprocketwheel 12 when the arm 14 occupies the lower or full-line position of l'Fig. 2, "but when raised to the upper or the arms 14, bearing the. idler-wheels '15,' about which the forward ends of the chalns f The arms 14 are pivotally mounted preferably, from near one end thereof. These` upon which rests the upper run of the chain Iog,

foot-lever 20, which is within reach of the.

o erator, connects through the rod 21 with t e lever 18 on the rock-shaft 19 and thereby enables vthe chains 11 to be engaged. or disengaged fromv their driving-wheels.

To drive the apron 2 rearwardly at any desired rate 'of speed, the following means are employed: O n the end of the apron-shaft 6 is secured the worm-gear 22,'and on the 'stub-shaft 23 is journaled the combined ratchetand bevel-gear24. 1 Movement is imparted to thisV gear by the toothed eccentric-link 25, which is driven by the eccentric 9 onv the cylinder-shaft 9. This link is bifurcated at its lower end, each arm thereof bein@r Whiclh segment 26 on the pawl-arms 26. These pawl-arms (see Figs. 11 and 12) are ivotally mounted and oppositely dispose on the stub-shaft 23, so that when a reciprocating motion is given thelink by the eccentric 9 it will impart a rocking movement to the pawl-arms. On the `pawlarms 26 are mounted the. pawls 27, which are adapted to providedwith a toothed rack25,

engage the'ratchet portionof the gear and ratchet 24.l -By employin the rack-andpinion drive above describe a more luniform motion is imparted to the pawl-arms 26 than could be secured by the ordinary link connectfon, since the effect of angularity in said arms 1sy overcome. Moreover, a movementis imparted. to the pawl-arms by the toothed llink 25 when the latter is crossing the lower dead-center, as will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 14. The link in passing from the full to the dotted line position shown in this figure passes the lower' dead-center and 'has no appreciable longitudinal movement, ,but rocks about a center coincident with the stub-shaft 23 and in such rockingv movement advances the pawl-arms the amount indicated. The arrangement thus results ina comparatively uniform f motion f being" imparted to the gear and ratchetwheel 24,.

and hence a more uniform speed to the apron rearwardly. On the stub-shaft l23 is also mounted the casting 28, which forms a journal-bearingv for the vibratory 'wormhaft 29 and a housing for-the-pinion.30, 'xed thereto. lThe pinion 30 meshes with and is driven by the bevel-gear portion of the gear 24, 'and `thus imparts movement to fthe worm 31, Whichgin turn isv adapted toy engage and drive the worm-gearv 22 'on the apron-shaft vMovement of the shaft 29 about its' pivotal center on the stub-shaftv 23 v casting 33 is meshes with the corresponding toothed .isfeffected by: means of a, `bar 32'. Aiixed rovided with ayoke-likelopening 33', which) engages a'collar 29 on theend of the worm-shaft,`29, anda roll-er :292'is .mounted in a bracket on said collar.. The

wider portionof the bar 32- above lthe shoulder 32- thereon engages the roller`2-92 on the collar'29 and forcest e worm 31 into engagement with the gear 22,y While the -coil-spring 34 operates tozhold same normally out of engagement. The bar32is mounted at its lower end onone arm of the angle-lever 35 on the rock-shaft35, this angle-lever connecting with the hand-lever 36 through the rod- 37, and thereby enabling the worm 31 to vbe thrown into and out of engagementwith the gear 22. To regulate the extent ofl effective movement ofthe pawls 27- on the ratchet-gear 24,

a cam-lever 38 is pivotally mounted on the stub-'shaft 23, this lever being provided with the cam-surfaces 38', each of which is adapted to engage the toe of one of the pawls 27 andv prevent lit from engaging the said ratchetgear 24 for a portion of thestroke of said pawl, the extent depending upon the position 'of the cam-lever. The cam-lever 38 is provided with a toothed segment 382, g which meshes with the .gear-segment 39, (see Fig. 1 5,) the latter being pivotally mounted on the apron-shaft 6 and controlled by its comicotion with the arm35 'on the, rock-shaft 35 throu h the rod 39. Movement' ofl the handever 36 will thus control the position of the said cam-lever and determine the effective throw of the 'pawls, and henceregulate the krearward movement of the apron 2. For a more complet-e detail description of the foregoing principle of construction and operation of the apron-feed and means for regulating same reference is made to the application vfiled byapplicants February 3, 1906, Serial No. 299,25 To return the apron to its forward position, the following-described apron-reversing mechanism is employed.: A spur-gear 40 is, fixed to theleft-hand end of the apron-shaft 6, and meshing therewith and mounted on the stub-shaft 44 1 is the pinion 42. To the stubvshaft 41 is also fixedthe sprocket-Wheel 4 3, and `iournaled loosely on saidjshaft on both v sidesl of the sprocket-wheel are the swinging arms 44, (seey Fig. 6,) between the upper or idler 45,'and the arrangement is such'that as [the arms 44 are swung forwardly the said chain will be. brought into engagement with vthe large sprocket-Wheel v12, which'is secured 'to the'left-hand rear Wheel 13: There is thus provided a swinging chain-carrying frame,- havi'ng aj gear connection with the apron- .shaft, the said frame being arranged to engage -the driving sprocketwheel when swung'forvfree vends of which is journaled the i'dlerflywheel 45. A sprocket-chain 46 is made to. '.pass labout* the sprocket-wheel 43l and `the wardly, and thus impart a return or forward` movement fo the apron. The spring 48,

which is fixed at one end to the lbox-framel The link connection 49, which extends be. tweenvthe arm 44 and an arm 50 on the endv of the rock-shaft`35, constitutes an operative connection between the apron reversing mechanism, and this rock-shaft, which, as

heretofore described, is controlled by the hand-lever 36. When the hand-lever 36 is moved 'to its forward position, as shown in Fig. 2, the arm 44 will be swung rearwardly from the full-line position shown in Fig. 6 to the dotted-line position inthe same figure,

. and the apron-,reversing mechanism thus be put out of operation.

To prevent. the materiali in the box from lodging against lthe distributing-cylinder 8 when the machine is not in operation, a vertically-swinging end-gate 5,1, consisting of a curved shield 51', secured to aswinging frame 512, is employed. This end-gate is connected bythe link 52 to the depending'arm 142 of the arm, 14 and through this is thrown into and out of operation in conjunction with the cylinder-drivin'g mechanism by the foot-lever 20. Ordinarily the operator of the machine would fail to give attention sufficiently care-A ful to insure the apron being stopped eX- actly at the end of its movement forward and rearwardly, and hence automatic means are employed for accomplishing this end. Such meansjconsists of two arms 53 and 54, secured to the rock-shaft 35 and properly disposed angularly thereon. This rock-shaft 35 lies beneath the movable apron 2, and the arms 53 and v54 project upwardly, terminating immediatel below said apron. Dependi110 lu s 5,5 an 56 are secured to the'under side o the apron-strips 2', the lug 55 being near the forward end of the apron, while 'the' lug 56 is near the'rear'en'd thereof'. The arrangement is such that when the apron approaches the .end of its travel rearwardly the lug will impinge the arm 53, moving the same from. the fu l-line position of Fig. 3 ,to

4the dotted-line position in the same figure, in which movement the angle-lever 35 will movel correspondingly, disengaging the worm 3'1" fromthe gear 22 and also rocking the cam-i lever 38, the vmovementv of this cam-lever being without effect, however, since .the worm is disengaged from the gear. On the returnv movement forwardly of the apron the lu 56 will engage the arm 54, .thus rocking the s aft 35 forwardlyV and disengaging'the chain 46 from the sprocket-wheel 47 of the apron-re-.

versing mechanism. l The arms 53 and 54 are made longitudinally '.compressible in order that they may yield on lcontacting,the lmttoml of the apron when' comingto avertical posi-f tion, and thus retain contact with'tlieir point ranged toibe raised and lowered from and ,to

engagement with the sprocket-wheels on the ymain wheels, driving sprocket-wheels mount: ed on the lmain wheels, and a single lever for controlling the movement of said chains and end-gate.

2. In a tion, a body, ,amovable apron mounted in the bottom thereof, a distributing-cylinder mounted at the rear end of said body, rear fertilizer-distributer, in combinai supporting-wheels, driving sprocket-wheels secured thereto, means for moving the apron rearwardly, and an apron-return mechanism comprisinga gear on the end of the apronshaft, a stub-shaft having a gear and sprocket wheel mounted thereon, a swinging arm p ivotally mounted on the stub-shaft and carrying at its free end an idler, a chain engaging the sprocket and the idler, the said chain arranged to swing -into engagement with the driving sprocket-wheel on the'main wheel l and thereby impart return movement to the apron, and means for controlling the position l of saidswinging arm.

3. Ina fertilizer-distributer, in, combination, a body, a movable apron in the botto-m thereof, means for driving the apron rearwardly, an. apron-reversing mechanism, a lever-actuated rock-shaft mounted beneath said a ro'n -for controlling the aprondrive and tiie apron-reversing mechanism, upwardly-promoting longitudinallycompressible..arms fixed on said rock-shaft, and de-` pending lugsv onl said apron arranged to impinge said arms and thereby control the driving apron-movingdevices.

1 4.' In ay fertilizer-d1str1buter,in combina`l` tion, af body, a movable apron in the bottom thereof, means for vdrivingthe a ron rearwardly, an apron-reversing mec anism, a.

IOO

rocklshaft mounted beneath' said apron for controlling the apron-drive and the apron- Areversing mechanism, a hand-lever within reach .of the operator, said lever having an operative connection withl the rock-shaft, two angularly-disposed upwardly-projecting arms secured to said rock-shaft, and a deranged t`o impinge said arms coincident ywithy .the apron .reaching the limit of its travel pending lugl on each end ofthe apron. ar- .l

rearwardly and forwardly,.and thereby disengage,'respectively, the apron-drive'and the ,apron-reversing mechanism.

5. In ai'fertilizer-distributer, in Combination, a body, a movableapron mounted in the bo'ttom thereof, a distributing-cylinder' mounted at ythe rear end of said body, mechamem" for moving sald apron toward the cylinder, said mechamsmcomprlsmg a shaft connected with said' bottom, al gear-wheel secured to said Shaft, a worm adapted to enf" 'A gage with saidy Wheel, said Worm having agear connection with a ratchet-Wheelrotatably mounted upon a'xed part of the machine, apawl and a paWl-oarrying arm adapted to engage with s aid ratchet-Wheel, the

said pawl-arm having a toothed se ment in connection therewith, an eceentricink pro'- vided with a toothed rack and arrangeditoy form. an operative conneetionbetween thev dlstributing-cylinderand the paWl-arms, and

means for controlling the operation ofisaid inder, said mechanismcomprising a shaft connected with said-bottom, a gear-Wlfieelee-` cured to said shaft, a wormfadaptedtoengage With said Wheel, said Worm.v having a gear connection With a ratchet-Wheel rotatably mounted upon aiixed partiofthe Ina-"- I chine two op ositely-disposed paWl-carrying -arms. pivotal y. mounted on an axis coincident with the axis'of said'ratohet-wheel, said l' armshaving toothed segmento` in. connection therewith, pa'wls'mounted on said arms and adapted to engage the ratchet-Wheel', an7eo' -centrio-link driven from said 'cylinder land I y terminating at its lower end in oppositeparanism for movin' allel toothed. racks' arranged to engage thel 'toothed .segmentof the aWl-arm's and vioperation of said apro I1-driving meohanism.

7.- Infa fertilizer-distributer, in comblnation, a body, a movable 'apron mounted 1n the bottom. thereof, a distributing-cylinder mounted atjthe rear end of Said body', mechsaid apron-toward the cylinder, said 'mec connected with said bottom, a gear-wheel secured` to said-shaft, a 'Worm adapted to engage with said Wheel, said Worm having agear. connection `with a ratchet-Wheel rotatably mounted upon a .iixed'part of the machine, two oFpositely-'disposed paWl-carryinfg` armspivota 1y mounted on an axiscoineident f with the axis of said ratchet-Wheel, saidarms having toothed segments in connection there- With,'pawls mounted onsaid arms' and adapt-- ed to engage the ratchet-wheel, an eccentricliiik driven'from said cylinderand terminating Vat its lower end in opposite .parallel "toothed racks arra'n ed to engage the toothed VsegI-nent of the paw-arms-and` vibrate same, a cam-lever forv vcontrolling the effective movement' of thefs'aid pawls, said-cam-lever faces ,and a toothed se ment,` a gear-segment havingconnection Wit the controlling-lever for operating the said cam-lever, anda lever anism comprising a 'shaft fbrate Same, .and'means or controlling the being provided with patri-engaging cam-surfor 'controlling the `operatiorof the 'apronv driving mechanism.

lSAMUELK.12EN1\1IS. FRANK vW.- RIE.

Witnesses:

.JAMES" A. MOXERY,

CHARLES H. MANGOLD. 

